By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

DAME Marguerite Pindling launched the Bahamas Red Cross Society’s Grand Raffle yesterday as the charity hopes to recoup critical shortfalls from this year’s fair.

Bad weather wiped out a large portion of the expected profits for the 71st annual Red Cross Fair, according to BRC director general Caroline Turnquest, who appealed for public support of the raffle to help underwrite the operational budget of the Society.

Ms Turnquest said: “We’re counting on the funds from the raffle now to be able to purchase much needed disaster supplies and to assist us with our daily running of the Red Cross.

“We appeal to the general public to assist us, we really need the funds.

“The fair was not successful at all. It was the first Saturday in March and it got totally rained out.

“We did a steak out and mini-fair a few weeks after that however once again because of the high level of expenses, we only barely made enough to pay expenses for the first fair.”

Topping the list of prizes is a 2013 Toyota Corolla and a plot of land in San Salvador, Ms Turnquest said.

The cost of the fully loaded sedan was discounted by Executive Motors, and the property was donated by Columbus Landings Limited.

Ms Turnquest said: “The fair is one of our major fundraisers, we have a net target of a $100,000 so normally sometimes we would end up with $70,000. This year we made about $23,000, so as you can see it’s very minimal compared to what we normally make.

“Our annual budget is about 550,000, so as you can see we are really scrapping for funds right now. “We have a Meals on Wheels programme that we run, we provide meals for the sick and shut-ins five days a week; we have an after school programme; we have persons that walk in on a daily basis seeking assistance with food parcels; we send food parcels to the Family Islands – we assist in whichever way we can.”

At a raffle booth set up outside ScotiaBank on Bay Street yesterday, Lady Marguerite Pindling praised the efforts of the global charity organisation and pointed to an increase in demand for food parcels.

Lady Pindling said: “It is very important that the Society has sufficient funds to respond to emergencies as they arise. In any community the strength is in people helping people and each one helping one.”